I’m just one of millions of people who grew up on the great TV sitcoms of the late 80’s and 90’s. Cosby. Roseanne. Full House. Fresh Prince. Family Matters. Step By Step. Saved By The Bell. Who’s The Boss? Perfect Strangers...They don’t make these kinds of shows anymore. Maybe that’s why so many of them are being resurrected in reboots for the Gen Z crowd.
The difference is, those sitcoms were on during a period where there was no social media. No computers. It was just the cusp of the good old days when you could go bike riding until dinner time and not have to constantly check your phone for emails or other messages. Time seemed to be on your side back in those days. But it was also at the cusp when the world seemed to not be as friendly and predictable as it used to be. Like the theme song of Full House says, “Whatever happened to predictability?”
What didn’t seem at all predictable was that Bob Saget, the patriarch and neat freak of the Tanner Family would die unexpectedly. When I heard of his passing, I felt as if a part of my childhood went along with it.
I can just barely remember seeing the premiere commercials for Full House. My siblings and I were so excited because the show teased how it had three fathers and three young girls, but you didn’t know who exactly was the real father. Unless my memory made this up, I can still picture the ads with the three main characters: Danny, Jessie, and Joey, standing behind DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle.
Full House was the show to watch for TGIF on ABC. I can’t remember if it started on Friday’s or if it was Tuesday’s. But I watched the show over and over again as it was on reruns on every other channel it seemed after school. I didn’t understand anything about reviews or critics when I watched those shows as a kid, but I understand now that the show was never well received by the critics.
But watching Full House today, I can say that I actually laugh and am not bored. Yes, there is a bit of a cheese factor with the plot always being about something not too overly dramatic or serious and it ties up neatly at the end with a lesson learned. But I actually like it. All of the main actors are made for their roles. They bring the depth and the laughs and make up for whatever it is that the critics don’t like about the show.
Despite the G-rated content, the show’s premise wasn’t so G-rated. Or should I say, not so typical of what one would think a typical nuclear family should be represented when you think of a family friendly sitcom. What makes Full House stand above its reputation as being some cheesy family friendly sitcom is that it was a family unit cobbled together after a terrible tragedy.
Being on the cusp of the good old days, Full House wasn’t about a traditional family of a mom and dad and kids. It was a family made up of a widower, uncle, a close family friend, and three daughters.
I especially appreciated how Becky came on board as a realistic maternal figure to the older kids. There were several episodes where having a positive female figure in the girls’ lives made an impact in their lives. One of the first ones was when DJ went to school with too much makeup and it was Becky who stepped in to help her out.
A lot of kids who grew up in that time probably grew up the same way. They may have had one parent in the house. Or both parents were working and so other adults had to be the parents. Danny worked long hours and so it was a good thing that both Jessie and Joey didn’t have typical 9-5 jobs.
Maybe on the outside people may see Jessie and Joey as not being responsible or not to be respected because of their lack of employment, but the two worked hard to take care of the kids and the household. We got to see how much the two pitched in all of the time. There’s no way Danny would have been able to move up from being a local sports reporter to having his own talk show if Jessie and Joey weren’t available to help out at home.
In today’s world where it’s always go, go, go and work, work, work, there seems to be an even bigger need for an Uncle Jessie or Joey to be around at home. I grew up in a similar environment where I had parents who worked, so my siblings and I were often cared for by grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We never had nannies or babysitters because we had family who could pitch in.
What I also appreciate a lot about Full House is that it features three father types who can actually be mature and take care of kids. It’s not that they were perfect or were serious all the time. But, they were within range of being average adults who have to take care of three kids.
In today’s sitcoms and in advertising, the male figures are always depicted as man-children who are awkward and ignorant about how to take charge and be a dad. I grew up with a dad and uncles who could act like adults and do both typical male and female things. They were responsible and reliable. I think that’s also probably common with how everyone else grew up like or have at least witnessed. This dumbing down of the father figures in media is one of the reasons why I haven’t watched a sitcom since the early aughts.
Fuller House was okay, but that’s for another generation and for another era. I grew up in the Full House era. I can feel those days and memories of when we rode our bikes, walked to 7-11, and wandered around the mall on the weekend. I can remember the times when I had to keep appointments and keep track of my life without the aide of an app or computer. And I do remember when small things like not being able to go to a concert or wanting to stay up late on a school night felt like the biggest bummer in life.
Rest in peace and thank you, Bob Saget.
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